


i think we're supposed to be

by waveridden



Category: Friends at the Table (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Librarians, M/M, Podfic Available, Season: Spring in Hieron
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-09
Updated: 2019-12-09
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:13:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21728095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/waveridden/pseuds/waveridden
Summary: “I just want to email some people. On a computer.”“Ephrim,” Highwater answers, “go to a library.”Ephrim blinks. “Libraries have computers?”
Relationships: Ephrim/Throndir (Friends at the Table)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 44
Collections: 2019 AU December Challenge





	i think we're supposed to be

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is part of the AUcember series, a self-made challenge where I try to write a new AU one-shot every day. You can read all of the AUcember fics in the collection linked above. Title is from Groceries by Mallrat.

Ephrim drums his fingers on the counter impatiently. “Come on, pick up, pick up-”

“That’s a rude way to say hello,” Highwater says, because she loves being mean to him. “Why are you calling me on the one day a week the salon is closed?”

“I came in to do some of the administrative stuff and the wi-fi isn’t working.”

There’s a long pause before Highwater says, “I’m sorry, I don’t understand why you’re calling me.”

Ephrim huffs out a breath. “What do I do?”

“Call our wi-fi provider?”

“It’s a three-hour wait on their customer service line.”

“Have you tried resetting the router?”

“I don’t know what that is,” Ephrim says, completely candid. Highwater understands that Ephrim is… limited, as far as practical life skills go. She teaches him things like how to put gas in his car, and in return she gets to be apprenticed to him at the salon. It’s a pretty good deal that they have going.

Highwater sighs. “I’m not going to teach you how to google things.”

“I can’t google without wi-fi-”

“You look me in the eye and tell me you don’t have an unlimited data plan.”

“ _Highwater,_ ” Ephrim says painedly. “I just want to email some people. On a computer.”

“Ephrim,” Highwater answers, “go to a library.”

Ephrim blinks. “Libraries have computers?”

Highwater takes a deep breath, probably thinking about how Ephrim is too rich to have ever set foot in a library. “Okay,” she says. “There’s a library two blocks away from the salon. It’s a Tuesday, so they should be open. Just go in and say you want to get a library card and use the computer. Okay?”

“Okay,” Ephrim says, relieved. “Library card, got it.”

“And next time in your lessons about how to be a real boy, we’re going to go over things like libraries and Blockbusters.”

“Hasn’t Blockbuster been closed for a long time?”

“It’s the principle, Ephrim,” she says. He can hear her smiling. “You need to understand the theory behind rentals.”

“Mmmhm.” Ephrim pauses for a second. “Thank you.”

“Any time,” Highwater answers. “But also, please let me have the rest of my day off in peace.”

He rolls his eyes. “Yeah, whatever you say.”

Ephrim nearly walks past the library when he finally gets there, not because it’s closer than he expected but because he doesn’t really know what a library is supposed to look like. He’s not sure what he was expecting, but it’s a nondescript brick building on a street corner. Not exactly something that inspires him to read.

Still, he heads inside, looking around curiously. Plenty of books, but also an alcove with computers. And magazines, and DVDs, and audiobooks. And a counter with a man behind it, who’s smiling at him.

Ephrim heads over to the probably-librarian. “Is this where I go to get a library card?”

“Yes it is,” the probably-librarian says cheerfully. He’s handsome, Ephrim notices, with round cheeks and green eyes. “Is this your first time here?”

“It is.”

“Cool.” He smiles warmly, and Ephrim feels something surprised and soft flutter in his chest. “I’m Throndir, I’m one of the librarians here.”

“Ephrim.” He extends his hand for Throndir to shake. “I work at the hair salon a couple blocks down, and our wi-fi stopped working, and I have some stuff that really needs to get done today.”

Throndir nods sympathetically. “I’m awful with computers,” he says, voice low and conspiratorial. Ephrim finds himself leaning in, although he’s not quite sure why. “I have to call my coworkers whenever people have questions more complicated than, like, how to open an internet browser.”

Ephrim snorts. “I’m a little more advanced than that, but not by much.”

“It still sounds like you’ve got a leg up on me.” Throndir smiles and slides his chair over to be in front of his own computer. Ephrim straightens up automatically. “I’ll get you in the system, though. And feel free to stop by whenever you’re having internet troubles. Or whenever you want, really.”

“I’d like that,” Ephrim says, surprised by how much he means it. “I’ll try and stop by again.”

Throndir grins at him, and Ephrim’s breath catches in his throat. “Then I’d better actually get you a library card, huh?”

“Maybe,” Ephrim allows, and lets himself grin back at Throndir.

#

The thing is-

The thing is, Ephrim actually does go back to the library. He wasn’t sure if he meant it, even as he was saying it, but it’s nice spending time around Throndir. He seems to understand that Ephrim has a lot of questions about most things that people know, but he never asks why or gives Ephrim too much shit about it. He’s both ready and willing to answer.

And Ephrim, for the first time since he was a kid, finds himself reading for pleasure every night. It’s a strange, pleasant habit to fall back into, made all the better by the fact that he can talk to Throndir about books.

“You’ve been reading a lot,” Highwater says one day. They’re both between clients, and Ephrim is flipping through a book that Throndir recommended. “What is that, anyway?”

He holds up the book to show her that back cover. “Nature photography from Alaska or something.” It’s not really Ephrim’s speed - he prefers actual writing over just pictures - but he’s giving it a shot anyways. Throndir had seemed so excited when Ephrim had asked for recommendations, and Ephrim wasn’t about to say no just because it wasn’t a book he would’ve picked out himself.

Besides, there’s something fun to flipping through the pictures and trying to imagine Throndir reading this. He’d made a joke about Ephrim guessing his favorites, and Ephrim fully intends to go in with an actual list of guesses.

“Wow,” Highwater says. Ephrim glances up at her, and she tilts her head, genuinely curious. “So you’re… a regular library client?”

“It’s kind of nice,” Ephrim admits. “Being around people, having access to these things. The librarian says they have an agreement with a couple of ebook publishers, so he’s going to help set me up with an online library card.”

“What,” says Highwater.

“What?”

“You’re letting someone else give you real-person lessons?”

“He doesn’t make fun of me.” Ephrim pauses. “Except the time I said I was 25 when I learned to change a lightbulb.”

“You deserve to be made fun of for that,” Highwater says gravely. She only halfway means it, Ephrim can tell; she knows that he grew up in a weird situation that didn’t exactly allow him to develop normal life skills. “And you’re letting him recommend you books?”

“He’s a librarian, Highwater, it’s his job to recommend books.”

“Ooookay,” she says. “I’m just saying, if I recommended you a picture book you’d laugh at me, so you must like this guy a lot.”

Ephrim frowns. “Highwater, I like you just fine.”

“That’s not the point here, but thank you for that glowing commendation.”

“I don’t know what point you’re trying to make,” Ephrim says, but Highwater is already getting to her feet and walking away. “Are you going to tell me?”

“You’ll figure it out,” she calls over her shoulder.

Ephrim rolls his eyes and goes back to the book. Highwater is cryptic like that sometimes, but he’s pretty sure he can figure out what she means. Eventually.

#

The day that Ephrim goes to return the nature photography book, it’s the monthly kids’ story corner at the library. He discovers this when he walks in and sees Throndir, a dozen kids, and the biggest dog he’s ever seen in his fucking life, all sitting on the floor together.

Throndir is in the middle of reading a story that Ephrim has never heard before, something about a girl who can walk through mirrors. Ephrim means to start browsing the shelves, but he finds himself watching Throndir instead. The dog’s head is resting on Throndir’s lap, but the kids all keep reaching out to pet him. Throndir never pauses in his reading, his voice soothing and steady, but he smiles every time the kids reach out. It’s incredibly sweet, and Ephrim can’t look away.

And next thing he knows, the story is coming to an end and the kids start scattering to their various parents. Throndir glances up at Ephrim for the first time, and Ephrim’s heart starts racing, although he can’t possibly say why. “Hey,” he says.

“Hi,” Throndir says, making absolutely no move to get up from the floor. “You wanna come meet Kodiak?”

“You didn’t mention that Kodiak was a literal bear,” Ephrim says, but he goes to sit down in front of Throndir. Kodiak barks softly at him, and Ephrim grins. “Wow.”

“He’s a sweetheart,” Throndir says fondly. “The kids all love him.”

“The kids are right.” Ephrim reaches out and strokes a hand down Kodiak’s side. “How long have you had him?”

“Oh, since before I moved to the city.”

“You’re not from here?”

“No, I actually-” Throndir laughs and ducks his head. “I grew up in Alaska? Like, the smallest town possible. I didn’t set foot in a library until I was an adult, but I realized immediately that it was the kind of place I wanted to be forever. It took a long time, but I get to be a librarian now. It’s pretty cool.”

“Yeah,” Ephrim murmurs. “You’re pretty good at that.”

Throndir smiles, pleased, and scratches Kodiak behind one ear. “Thanks, Ephrim.”

“So that book you recommended-”

“Which book?”

“The photography one.”

“You actually checked that one out?”

Ephrim nods as he continues carding his fingers through Kodiak’s fur. “I wanted to see what you saw in it.”

“Oh,” Throndir says. Ephrim glances over, and Throndir isn’t smiling, but he’s looking at Ephrim with such unguarded affection that he suddenly can’t breathe. “That’s… really sweet, you know that?”

Ephrim looks away, feeling his cheeks heat despite himself. “You seemed excited about it.”

“I get excited about a lot of things, I don’t expect people to check them all out and read them.”

“Well-” Ephrim pauses. What’s a good way to say that he wants to get to know Throndir better?

Slowly, he lifts his hand from Kodiak’s side up towards his head, where Throndir’s hand is still resting. He settles it so it’s not quite touching Throndir’s hand, but so it would be easy to reach out and touch him. “Do you… want to get coffee sometime?”

“Ephrim,” Throndir says warmly. Ephrim forces himself to make eye contact, and Throndir beams. “I absolutely would.”

“Good,” Ephrim says, and tangles their fingers together.

**Author's Note:**

> If you also like meetcutes in libraries, you can come say hi to me on both Tumblr and Twitter @waveridden!

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [i think we're supposed to be [podfic]](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22718269) by [midnightmew-podfics (midnightmew)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/midnightmew/pseuds/midnightmew-podfics)




End file.
